Answering more of your questions about Aurora and autonomous vehicles

We are on the cusp of one of the most exciting moments in Aurora’s history—our planned April commercialization of the Aurora Driver, our self-driving system, in long-haul trucking. As we prepare for this new era in transportation, we recently explored common questions about Aurora’s autonomous vehicles. Here we address additional questions that dig a layer deeper into Aurora and our self-driving technology. 

How will autonomous trucks improve freight?
The Aurora Driver is designed to increase efficiency and productivity by mitigating existing limitations facing the freight industry. These critical issues include collisions, hours-of-service limitations, high fuel costs, and high insurance costs. 

This makes autonomy highly attractive to carriers. The Aurora Driver can unlock tremendous value by providing safer operations, higher vehicle utilization, improved fuel efficiency, faster freight, and a scalable and stable driver supply. 

Is Aurora and self-driving technology going to eliminate trucking jobs?
According to the American Trucking Association, there is a truck driver shortage of approximately 60,000 drivers today. Rather than replacing jobs, self-driving trucks will begin to address the existing shortage that is forecasted to grow as a result of the natural turnover of an aging workforce, all while boosting wages and supply chain efficiency. In addition, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2021 report on the macroeconomic impacts of automation in long-haul trucking estimated that autonomous trucking is set to create 26,000 to 35,000 new jobs per year on average. 

Aurora has already created many new roles to support autonomous trucking technology, including terminal operators, fleet support technicians, command center specialists, and fleet dispatch specialists, among others. 

How are you preventing someone from hacking or taking over the Aurora Driver? 
Aurora protects the security of the Aurora Driver by leveraging industry best practices, a deeply experienced team, built-in product protections, and cross-functional rapid response protocols. We have built a system that minimizes architectural weaknesses and is ready to respond to identified security risks, meaning Aurora’s autonomous trucks are designed to operate securely, with significant protections from malicious actors.

The Aurora Driver is a closed system designed to operate independently, meaning neither Aurora’s team nor external actors can remotely control the vehicle. Though Aurora’s remote assistance specialists can provide advice to the Aurora Driver, the system is designed to only act upon recommendations if it is safe to do so. For example, if a remote assist specialist requests the vehicle to pull to the shoulder, the vehicle itself will ultimately decide on a safe location to perform the pullover.

What conditions can the Aurora Driver operate in?
The Operational Design Domain, or “ODD,” refers to the conditions in which the Aurora Driver is designed to function — including the geography, weather, road conditions, and other considerations. By the end of 2025, we expect our vehicles will operate in autonomy within the following ODD:

• Day and night
• On public roads in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona
• Within the speed limits on roadways we operate, up to 75 miles per hour
• In suburban and urban areas, including in dense traffic
• In construction and work zones with cones and barriers
  
• Rain and heavy wind

Can the Aurora Driver navigate construction zones or detours?

Yes. Our data science team has analyzed all of the trips we’ve driven on Texas roadways to determine which types of construction-related challenges tend to occur most often. 

By focusing our resources on overcoming these challenges first, we prioritize developing capabilities for the Aurora Driver that have the highest impact. Today in Texas, Aurora Driver-powered trucks safely detect and drive through construction zones and nudge around barrels and other obstacles on a regular basis while hauling freight for our partners.

How does the Aurora Driver respond to emergency vehicles? 

The Aurora Driver is designed to operate like a law-abiding, responsible, and considerate road user. This means yielding to active emergency vehicles and executing maneuvers in a safe, responsible, and predictable way— without blocking intersections or confusing other drivers. 

We teach the Aurora Driver’s perception and motion planning systems to detect, recognize, and react to emergency vehicles in different scenarios using large amounts of data. For more complex scenarios, such as an accident scene or if an active emergency vehicle is blocking a traffic lane, the Aurora Driver will request guidance from a remote assistant specialist. In these cases, the remote assistant specialist provides guidance, but the Aurora Driver will only act if it determines the action is safe.

To help ensure safe and consistent interactions with emergency vehicles, Aurora has worked closely with public safety agencies at all levels of government. This includes the Frisco Police Department in Texas. Together, Aurora and Frisco PD conducted over 800 first responder road tests, which helped not only strengthen Aurora’s autonomous trucking capabilities but also helped local law enforcement better understand and work with self-driving vehicles. 

How does the Aurora Driver respond to red light runners?
One benefit of having a system that is always monitoring and reacting to the world around it is the ability to anticipate and avoid a collision.

Here, the Aurora Driver detects a pedestrian on the side of the highway over 300 meters away. As the Aurora Driver approaches, the pedestrian begins to run out into the road. The Aurora Driver immediately slows down to allow them to safely pass by, and then continues on its journey.

In this video, the Aurora Driver slows down and avoids a collision that occurs directly ahead. Although the Aurora Driver has the green light, it detects and yields to a red light runner. By decreasing its speed, the Aurora Driver allows for enough time to fully stop and avoid the collision

How does the Aurora Driver navigate pedestrians? 
The Aurora Driver will largely operate on controlled-access freeways, and interaction with pedestrians is expected to be minimal. But we know anything can happen on an open road, including encounters with people or animals darting through moving traffic. 

In this video, the Aurora Driver detects a pedestrian on the side of the highway over 300 meters away. As the Aurora Driver approaches, the pedestrian begins to run across the road. The Aurora Driver immediately slows to allow the pedestrian to cross, and then continues on its journey. 

How does fueling work if there is no one in the cab?
Our trucks can go distances of roughly 1,000 miles on a single tank of fuel. At launch, the Aurora Driver will drive distances requiring only a single tank. Our pre-trip inspections include verifying fuel levels to support the mission, while our technology monitors fuel throughout the trip. We've installed fueling capabilities at select Aurora terminals, ensuring that trucks can be refueled before they depart on their next mission.

As we grow our nationwide network to include routes exceeding 1,000 miles, we’ll introduce additional fueling options along those corridors to keep our trucks running smoothly.

We’re approaching a special moment that has been the culmination of years of preparation and innovation—the launch of our first autonomous commercial trucks. Be sure to circle back for more exciting updates and milestones!